You would think it should be easy. Instead of a whole boatload of some 600+ commandments covering everything from how to dress, what to eat, how to grow crops, and what to do and not to do on pretty much everything under the sun, we are given only two commandments—the most important two. One is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and the second is like it: to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-39). In short, we are called to love. Seems simple enough. Isn’t being loved one of the greatest of human needs and isn’t loving someone else one of the best things in life, yet for reasons beyond my grasp, we Christians drop the ball repeatedly when called to love. Why is that? Why is it so hard to love God and one another? Or, more to the point, how can we say we love God when we do not love the person in front of us (1 John 4:20)? We like to say we love God, yet we turn around and despise the person next to us. We say we love God, but in truth we hate ourselves. How is that? Perhaps loving others is not as easy as it seems. Perhaps there is more to it than “all you need is love” (The Beatles, 1967), or “love the one you’re with” (Stephen Stills, 1970). Join us this Sunday in-person at 11:00 or via Facebook Live as we explore what it means to love God and our neighbor.
Matt 22:36-40: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”